Microsoft Is Working On An Xbox One Without A Disc Drive: Report

While Australia may fumble about in the digital dark ages, setting fire to forward-thinking broadband policy as if it were an onion-scoffing heretic, online connectivity in general has come a long way in the last five years, usurping industries once dominated by the physical. Why rent movies when there's Netflix? Why leave the house for a new game when Steam exists? It should come as no surprise, then, that Microsoft wants to release a new model of the Xbox One, sans disc drive.

If you're wondering why Microsoft would bother with such a change for its current-gen console, it's almost purely to save costs:

Currently, it costs about [$US299] to buy into the Xbox One family of devices, Microsoft is looking to lower that price by possibly as much as [$US100]; the new console price point is expected to be [$US200] or less.

That said, it's suggested the model will serve to test the waters, to make sure a disc-less next-gen console isn't commercial suicide.

Going home earlier this week, my partner wanted to play Assassin's Creed: Origins. She'd been playing it for a few days - being a double history major, makes sense - and was just starting to get into a groove with the game.

A question you probably have — and I can tell you already it's a good one — is how Microsoft will manage the transition from physical to digital. The last thing you want is for mum and dad to pick up the latest Forza for little Astrid's birthday, only to find there's no way for Asterisk to play said game. I don't think any of us could stand a weeping Asteroid.

Fortunately, Sams says Microsoft "has you covered":

In addition to the new console, there will be a ‘disc-to-digital’ program that, as the name states, turns your physical games into digital downloads. The idea is that you can take your disc to a participating retailer (like the Microsoft store) and trade in your disc for a digital download.

Regardless of whether this disc-less Xbox One bombs or not, it'll be a great experiment, one I'm sure Sony and (to a lesser degree) Nintendo will watch eagerly from the sidelines.

If the Switch has taught us anything, publishers won't bother to pay for the more expensive option and just make you download the rest of the game, as almost all Switch titles do. Bigger cards exist to have all the game data without download, but it costs extra, so they stick what they can into a smaller card and you download the rest.

In seconding @stormo the switch most certainly does not work that way.
I think the switch is one of the best consoles of its generation for its mix of new and old ‘console methods’.
It’s made great use of its nVidia shield underpinnings, and stuck to old console truths.
If you buy a Nintendo game cartridge, you can literally plug and play.
No download required.
Source: I now live in a ‘developing nation’, and this function alone really makes me appreciate that at least one console manufacturer still operates this way.
Game cartridge arrives in the mail, and it’s good to play.

Not sure what games you are playing, but several games require a download to play, they even have it plastered on the outside of the box. They include (but aren't limited to)

L.A. Noire (apparently the full game IS playable, but the audio lags without the update which is several GB's)
Wolfenstein 2 (8GB of 'required' download, no sure if some if playable without it)
2K18 (some of the game is playable, but the rest is locked under a download)
Doom (update is the multiplayer experience)
Resident Evil Revelations Collection (second game is download only, despite it being a physical product)
Star Link (required download, not playable without it, this apparently is a prime example as it was only 12 GB game and could have fit on a 16gb cartridge, but Ubisoft went with a 8 gb cartridge instead to cut costs)

These are just some, but there are quite a few and they are easily known as they have an ugly banner over the top telling you a download to required.

The drive isn't that big. Go look at an external optical drive, and its really only a 14x14cm square, about 1cm thick. Being thin makes it trivial to squeeze into a box that size, even moreso once you remove the casing.

For an alternative example, go back and look at the PS1's. When it shrunk, the drive stayed front and center. It was other things shrinking that let them make it so small (relative to the original), not the drive.

We wont notice the drive going. If the unit is smaller, its because other things have shrunk instead.

The smart thing to do would be to also release games as physical download codes (so basically a piece of cardboard with a scratch off code) so that other stores could still them at their cheaper disc prices.

I don’t think download will usurp physical discs any time soon. Considering that shitty internet still exists in western countries, it would be foolish to dump the disc when next gen consoles arrive in 2020. But could a disc-less console co-exist with a disc drive console this gen and next? Yes, I believe so, perhaps serving as a base or economy model.

Yeap. Not going to go away thanks to studios being dicks with their streaming licenses.

Outside their own made content, selections on Netflix rotate when the license expires (or if the studio demands more cash).

Even if Australia had fantastic Internet, I'd still buy physical so I can watch content down the track on my own terms and not have to worry if Netflix or others still have a license.

It's not just Netflix that has to wrestle with this.

Years back, Amazon found it didn't have the correct copyright for Nineteen Eighty-Four so had to remove it from the Kindle story, but took it miles too far and also remotely removed it from the Kindles of those who purchased it (an real act that actually takes place in that book).

For a period of time, GoG didn't have the earlier Fallout games because the agreement with Interplay had run out and Bethesda were being jerks.

And for a while, Alan Wake (also on GoG) was absent because of the copyright holder of the music.

If someone is buying a new TV they absolutely should buy a 4k TV, preferably with HDR as well. If you have a perfectly good HD (1920x1080) TV then I probably wouldn't bother upgrading, but if you need a new one why not?

I don't really care about 4k for most TV shows, but I love being able to watch the latest "spectacle" movies in 4k. It's amazing what a difference it makes, especially if you have HDR.

Interesting idea. I’m more concerned about how this will affect sales over time - I don’t want to be buying from the overinflated Microsoft Store. I only buy physical games for my Xbox because it’s much, much cheaper (sometimes nearly half price!) than digitally. The PC sector has been sliding backwards lately with region-locked keys on Steam, third party store specific keys (eg Uplay) and shitty regional pricing. I hope we’re not about to see the same trend in consoles.

Yeah but these sites are slowly becoming less relevant as region locking comes into play - unless you want to set up multiple accounts and use a VPN. Many new AAA releases have this region lock bullshit on Steam now, and they end up not being much cheaper on cdkey sites. Sad truth is that you can often get a new release AAA game cheaper on consoles from JB or Amazon than Steam or a cdkey site.

Downloaded games make it slightly easier as you don't have to pop a new disk in every time you swap, and if there's a sale, they're in stock! I know heaps of games EB have advertised cheap but can't get them in store.

I still like disks though, they tend to be cheaper sooner, I would be worried with a diskless console that it would be harder to get cheap games and I don't have much time or money for games these days so probably wouldn't bother with a diskless next gen console.

One of the big benefits with the Xbone is that its one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest 4K players going around. That makes it beneficial to more than just gamers, and if its selling to non-gamers for that purpose, possibly convincing them to buy games down the track.

Consoles work as multimedia centres as often as not these days, and losing a core part of that functionality is a mistake. Many people still have libraries of blu rays and DVD's that they like watching, if for no other reason than to watch something when they want, or because its not available on a popular option. Disk becomes a preferred option.

Personally, I have well over 1500 discs (DVD and blu ray) floating about that I'm not going to be getting rid of and would like an option to play them. A big chunk of those are things you simply dont see on the main streaming services. I also like gaming, so something that combines the two means one less cable.

I also remember various consoles playing big roles in discs taking off at different times. It was no coincidence that the PS3's inclusion of a blu ray player helped both it, and the blu ray standard itself. Microsoft is in the same position now with the 4K standard, being worth it as a 4K player by itself.

I recall back in the last generation there was a lot of talk about bricks and mortar stores being highly opposed to this because their gaming departments make most of their margin on games sales and hardly any on hardware. Can't expect them to dedicate floor space to hardware if the software sales are going to disappear. I have no numbers to support this argument.

Ive been doing this since a week after it launched since my child fed my xbox toast and banana. It was a welcome relief when they made the game pass a thing. Best ever! Now they need to reintroduce that digital game swap policy they were gunna promise when they first announced it but eveyone had a hissy fit cause you needed to be online.

I am very interested to hear more about the disc-to-digital program, I have a handful of discs that have picked up more than a few scratches. They work fine to show the console I can play the game, but in order to do that, I need to install off a friends disc first. Would gladly exchange a faulty disc for a code to ensure I can play the game.

As for a disc-less console, we unfortunately live in a world with far too many digital delistings, I'm going to hang onto my precious copy of Too Human until the end of time.

I personally would love to see a return to cartridge in the form of a hotswap SSD for game releases and maybe to a minor extent, movies.
Think about it, for an average joe consumer, a basic 120 GB SSD is now around $35 to $39. With bulk discounts and improvements to tech, the price of this is going to drop further for a developer.

Here are my pros and cons.
+ lower noise 'cause there is no moving parts
+ load times are quicker
+ the option to save data or updates directly to the drive (going to a friends place or lending them your game means that any updates you have done are already done).
+ newer / larger games don't require multiple discs (just a single larger drive)
+ newer resolutions won't require a rework of the delivery method (8K gaming, while still a long time away, is something that is on the horizon)

- physical storage is easier to hack / break
- price is higher no matter how cheap the drive becomes.
- SSDs still have a lifespan comparable to HDDs (though this is getting better)
- still have to have the media present to play (the major advantage of download is that its simply there, an important feature for a console like the switch to me)

In the wake of community and political pressure following the livestreaming of the horrific terrorist attacks at Christchurch on Friday, Australian ISPs have started blocking some sites used to rehost footage of the livestream, including the infamous 8chan image board.